Rishi Sunak has lost his marbles in Greek diplomatic row over Parthenon Sculptures

Most of the time we get fairly straight-forward answers - “I haven’t spoken to the Prime Minister about this … I wouldn’t want to speculate on policy” - however occasionally something interesting or unusual is uncovered, and that is what happened this Monday with hints at the impending Elgin Marbles furore.

One political hack just asked casually when Sunak was due to meet Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, and was told: “I don’t have anything to confirm at the moment. We will confirm in the normal way.”

This sounds like a regulation answer, but actually it was surprising because the day before Mitsotakis had appeared on Laura Kuenssberg’s Sunday morning show and said he had a meeting with Sunak. He discussed the marbles, which the Greeks call the Parthenon Sculptures, and said their removal was like cutting the Mona Lisa in half.

Punchy words, but not unsurprising as this is a long-running dispute between the UK and Greece. The sculptures once adorned the Parthenon at the Acropolis in Athens but were removed by British diplomat Lord Elgin in the early 19th century, while Athens was still under the rule of the Ottoman Empire and have been in the British Museum since 1816. Greece has long called for them to be returned. 

Next up, Sunak’s official spokesman said his boss had a “fairly robust” position on the marbles. He added: “We have cared for the marbles for generations and we want that to continue, the world comes to the UK regularly to see the marbles and there are no plans to change that or change the law.”

Then, in a twist I didn’t see coming, Sunak revealed he had cancelled his meeting with the Greek PM, over Mitsotakis’ comments to the BBC. It’s quite hard to understate how unusual this is for the UK Prime Minister to have a high-profile public spat with a NATO partner and ally - especially after the Greek leader had already met with Sir Keir Starmer. It was a bizarre move from Sunak, who ended up looking petulant and unstatesmanlike. 

Starmer was quick to capitalise on this at PMQs. He opened by saying: “In an effort to hide from his failures, the Prime Minister spent this week arguing about an ancient relic that only a tiny minority of the British public have any interest in. And that’s enough about the Tory Party.”

And at PMQs Sunak doubled down, accusing Mitsotakis of “grandstanding”. “Of course, we’re always happy to discuss important topics of substance with our allies, like tackling illegal migration or indeed strengthening our security,” he said.

“But when it was clear that the purpose of the meeting was not to discuss substantive issues for the future, but rather to grandstand and relitigate issues of the past, it wasn’t appropriate.” Sunak revealed “specific commitments and specific assurances” on the marbles were made and “then were broken”, so he cancelled the meeting.

If it sounds petty that’s because it is. Westminster has been rife with all sorts of speculation as to why the Prime Minister would create such a public diplomatic spat over … some marbles. Some people claim that it’s all an elaborate dead cat (distraction) after the abysmal migration figures last week.

Others think Sunak is trying to open up an ancient culture war if you will about the marbles. The problem is that the British public don’t seem to care. YouGov polling yesterday found that 49% of Britons think the Parthenon Sculptures should be kept in Greece while just 15% think they should just stay in the UK.

A focus group by think tank More In Common revealed that voters were very much unimpressed by the marbles taking the PM’s focus. One said it was “first world problems” with an “NHS crisis” on. A second person commented “it’s almost like a distraction”, while a third said: “Why do we give a cr*p?”

If it was an electoral strategy it seems to have backfired. Instead of looking Prime Ministerial, Sunak just looks petulant and childish. The future of the marbles is a long-running dispute which Mitsotakis was always going to be asked about by journalists. 

As Keir Starmer said: “I discussed with the Greek PM the economy, security, immigration, I also told him we wouldn’t change the law regarding the marbles. It’s not that difficult, Prime Minister.”

It seems Sunak is just quite passionate about these marbles. One former minister told Politico that “he comes across as snippy and comes across as thin-skinned — which he is, when people challenge him”. That’s been exposed here. 

Sunak’s already got so much on his metaphorical plate, he would have been wise to have dealt with this privately and keep the Greeks onside. Instead it’s looking rather like he’s lost his marbles.

Ralph Blackburn is NationalWorld’s politics editor based in Westminster, where he gets special access to Parliament, MPs and government briefings. If you liked this article you can follow Ralph on X (Twitter) here and sign up to his free weekly newsletter Politics Uncovered, which brings you the latest analysis and gossip from Westminster every Sunday morning.